Captain America: Civil War

Spanks – 5

Directors – Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Writers – Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Starring – Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Daniel Brühl & William Hurt

Release Date – 6 May 2016

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 147 Minutes

Captain America: Civil War could have easily been called Avengers 3 with all the heroes in the movie. It had all but Thor and The Hulk, it introduced Black Panther and a new Spiderman, and it even gave screen time to new Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch. The movie is tied closely to the events of Age of Ultron. Because of the events and collateral damage in Sokovia the government created the Sokovia Accord, which would let the United Nations oversee and control the Avengers. This divides the heroes. There is also a new villain who was a regular soldier from Sokovia until the battle with Ultron.

This is one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has just enough action, it keeps you thinking what is going to happen next, and was written well. It is funny and the characters work great with each other. Spider-Man was great and this version could be as good or better then Tobey Maguire.

The fight scene at the airport where Iron Man’s team confronts Captain America’s team was done really well. With so many people to focus on, the directors did good with going back to each character so you always know what they are all doing. There was 12 heroes involved which is a lot of people to keep track of.

If you have an IMAX around you, see it there. The airport battle was filmed with an IMAX camera and the sequence is huge.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spanks – 5

Director – Joss Whedon

Writer – Joss Whedon

Starring – Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders & Anthony Mackie

Release Date – 1 May 2015

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 141 Minutes

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie. It has everything the first film has with more Avengers. The film starts with the heroes on a mission to retrieve Loki’s scepter from a Hydra base in Sokovia. When they take it back to to Avengers tower, Tony Stark finds an AI in the scepter’s stone. He and Bruce Banner then try to use it for Stark’s Ultron global defense system. It doesn’t work and the new AI attacks the Avengers and escapes and wants to destroy the world.

With so many characters you would think that the movie would be a big mess, but everyone has their stories progress. They did a good job telling more about characters who have not had their own films like Hawkeye and Black Widow which was really cool.

The movie has a lot of action scenes and the first and last one are a little long. If your not into all that you might get a little bored. I enjoyed it all! It had so much going on with the different characters that it wasn’t a repetitive sequence. This movie is funnier then the first Avengers film but the first one is slightly better. Still well worth the price of admission. Hopefully I’ll have time to go see it again this summer.

Iron Man 3

Spanks – 5

Director – Shane Black

Writers – Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Starring – Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau & Ben Kingsley

Release Date – 3 May 2013

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 130 Minutes

Iron Man 3 blows the second entry of the franchise away. I didn’t know what to expect when Marvel changed directors because that doesn’t always go so well. Shane Black brought new life to Tony Stark and made a terrific film to wrap up the first (?) Iron Man trilogy.

The film takes place a few months after the events in The Avengers. Pepper Potts is still running Stark Industries. Tony Stark has been at his home fighting panic attacks and has been just building different Iron Man suits. A villain called the Mandarin has been terrorizing the entire world. Now Tony Stark must get over his problems and become Iron man once again.

The film is much more story driven then most comic book movies. The filmmakers tell a story that focuses more on Tony Stark than the previous two films. This is not a bad thing and it works well, probably because of the acting of Robert Downey Jr. and the terrific writing of screenwriters. The movie still has plenty of action scenes to get your fix of Iron Man. The action scene with Air Force One is best one of the movie. The villain of the film is the best of the trilogy. Iron Man 3 has all the elements needed for a great film.

The Avengers

Spanks – 5

Director – Joss Whedon

Writer – Joss Whedon

Starring – Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson

Release Date – 4 May 2012

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Runtime – 142 Minutes

If you are a fan of superhero movies, then The Avengers is the movie for you. Joss Whedon did a perfect job of putting this group of heroes into one movie. It even felt like a team-up comic book crossover the way it was executed. That isn’t surprising since Marvel hired a writer/director who has written comic books in the past.

The movie uses plot points introduced in last years’ Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. If you did not see the other movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe you don’t have to worry about being lost. You might not get a few jokes and little details, but you will be satisfied and entertained.

The Avengers are assembled for the first time after Loki uses an energy devise called the Tesseract to travel back to Earth. He then takes control of agents and scientist and steals the device. Nick Fury then calls the heroes to activate the Avengers Initiative to save the planet.

Avengers is in the top three comic book movies ever made with The Dark Knight and X-Men 2.